A tractor-trailer driver in California said he stopped a suspected murderer with his rig during a police chase across the southern region “to get him off the street,” he told a local FOX affiliate.
Trucker steps up to help police
Ahmed Shabaan says he was in his big-rig truck in the Pomona area on Tuesday night when he got word of the police chase — and that it involved a murder suspect — and decided to help by blocking the alleged killer’s pick-up truck as it traveled along the roadway, he told FOX 11 Los Angeles.
According to NBC Los Angeles, the chase began around 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday in San Diego and continued into Los Angeles. The California Highway Patrol said the suspect was wanted in connection to a murder as well as assaulting an officer.
The suspect, Michael Caleb Reed, 35, is accused of shooting Michael Lewis, 40. Reed has been arrested a number of times in the past for different felonies and led police on a chase last year in the Bay Area.
The chase featured several near misses and accidents caused by Reed’s erratic driving. Police said he appeared to throw objects and papers from the car a number of times as well.
“I just thought to get him off the street,” Shabaan said. “If I didn’t, and officers have been behind him for that long and didn’t stop him … I have the power.”
The police pursuit ensued after deputies from the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department tried to confront the murder suspect earlier Tuesday night.
Update: Murder suspect leading pursuit crashes into big rig, and is surrounded by more than a dozen patrol cars. https://t.co/Yi7uIX5EIn pic.twitter.com/AxIVo1VDSZ
— NBC Los Angeles (@NBCLA) April 7, 2021
Semi truck rams into murder suspect, ending the chase
The suspect went after one of the sheriff’s deputies before climbing into his pickup truck and driving away, according to FOX 11. The chase reportedly lasted more than two hours.
Sheriff’s department officials did not provide any additional information regarding the case in which the suspect was accused.
Police later took the suspect into custody, after the pickup truck crashed into the tractor-trailer, according to the report. Shabaan was not injured.
A passenger in the vehicle reportedly said she did not know the driver — who she said was her friend — was a murder suspect.
People are calling the truck driver a hero. A high speed chase could have easily caused the death of other motorists or police. Maybe this stunt will get his next few speeding tickets thrown out in court. Or maybe the department will help him fix his damaged rig. Big win for the good guys.
